Jesse Tyler Ferguson Reveals Embarrassing Gaffe He Once Made to One of His ‘Modern Family’ Co-Stars

Jesse Tyler Ferguson doesn’t have any ill intentions, and luckily, his peers know such. The Modern Family staple recently revealed a slightly embarrassing gaffe he blurtted during sensitive time while making the Emmy-winning sitcom. 

While talking about the iconic late actor and comedian Robin Williams during a recent episode of his Dinner’s on Me podcast, the father of two told guest Josh Hutcherson why he’ll always remember exactly where he was when he learned the legendary comedian died. And it involved one of Williams’ friends.

“I was with Nathan Lane. He was working on Modern Family when we found out that Robin Williams had passed away. And I was like — I hope this is funny to someone — but I was like, ‘Nathan, did you ever work with him? Did you know him?’ He’s like, ‘He played my husband on The Birdcage,” Ferguson explained. 

He said it was embarrassing for more than one reason. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s right. Of course he did.’ It’s like one of my favorite films,” he said. Ferguson said that he was “sort of in shock” after the gaffe, playfully ribbing himself, “I was like, ‘I’m such an idiot. Of course you did. Oh my God.’”

Lane starred opposite Williams in The Birdcage as Albert Goldman, who performs under the drag moniker Starina at his husband Armand’s (Williams) South Beach gay club, also called The Birdcage. He later appeared in a recurring role on Modern Family from 2010 to 2019 as Pepper Saltzman, a longtime friend of Ferguson’s character, Mitchell Pritchett. Ferguson would also guest star on Lane’s new sitcom Mid-Century Modern.Lane has ben open about his friendship with Williams, telling Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in 2014 that “no one was more kind” than Williams. 

In 2023, Lane also revealed that Williams went out of his way to guard Lane’s privacy when he wasn’t ready to publicly discuss his sexuality.  “He said, ‘Oh, it’s all right, don’t worry about — we don’t have to talk about it,” he said. When Oprah Winfrey began to ask him during an interview for the film, Lane recalled that Williams went “off on a tangent and [protected] me because he was a saint.”